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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1450733
This article is part of the Research Topic Reviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2023 View all 25 articles

A review of the botany, metabolites, pharmacology, toxicity, industrial applications, processing of Polygala Radix: the "key medicine for nourishing life"

Provisionally accepted
Kuang Hongtuo Kuang Hongtuo Lingping Kong Lingping Kong Ajiao Hou Ajiao Hou Anni Yang Anni Yang Qiuhong Wang Qiuhong Wang Hai Jiang Hai Jiang *
  • Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Polygalae Radix (PR), the dried root of Polygala tenuifolia Willd. and Polygala sibirica L., which enjoys the reputation for the "key medicine for nourishing life". In this study, "Polygala tenuifolia Willd.", "Polygala sibirica L." and "Yuanzhi" were retrieved in the scientific databases including Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI and Wan Fang Data to obtain useful information. The information from Chinese herbal medicine classics, Yaozhi Data and Gaide Chemical Network was also collected. The selected information related to its botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, industrial applications, processing were summarized in this paper to tap its potentialities and promote its further development and clinical application. More than 320 metabolites have been isolated from PR, saponins, xanthones, and oligosaccharide esters are main functional metabolites. Pharmacological research shows that its pharmacological action mainly focuses on resisting nervous system diseases, and it also has the functions of antioxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-tumor and anti-pathogenic microorganisms and others. The gastrointestinal irritation of its saponins impeded its application, which can reduce by controlling the dosage, compatibility with other herbs or processing. The future progress of PR faces opportunities and challenges. The traditional application and processing methods of PR recorded in ancient books should be paid more attention to. The lack of safety and clinical studies limited its application and transformation of achievements. Moreover, it is one-sided to take the content of several metabolites as the index of processing optimization and quality control, which can't reflect the pharmacological and toxicological activities of PR.

    Keywords: Polygalae Radix, Pharmacological effects, Metabolites, applications, Toxicity, processing

    Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hongtuo, Kong, Hou, Yang, Wang and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hai Jiang, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.